Dinah, ClinkShrink, & Roy produce Shrink Rap: a blog by Psychiatrists for Psychiatrists. A place to talk; no one has to listen.
All patient vignettes are confabulated; the psychiatrists, however, are mostly real.
--Topics include psychotherapy, humor, depression, bipolar, anxiety, schizophrenia, medications, ethics, psychopharmacology, forensic and correctional psychiatry, psychology, mental health, chocolate, and emotional support ducks. Don't ask. (It's not Shrink Wrap.)

Sunday, June 04, 2006

Dr. Eliot Gelwan blogs about British psychiatrist Dalrymple's musings ("Poppycock") that the dramatic and gut-wrenching symptoms which accompany narcotic withdrawal are induced by the presence of a sympathetic (and script-wielding) individual, and that the nature of addiction is essentially based on one's character defects (now there's an original thought).

Says Dalrymple:

I have witnessed thousands of addicts withdraw; and, notwithstanding the histrionic displays of suffering, provoked by the presence of someone in a position to prescribe substitute opiates, and which cease when that person is no longer present, I have never had any reason to fear for their safety from the effects of withdrawal.

Gelwan wisely concludes:

I largely agree that withdrawal from opiates is highly overrated, and that addicts have a hard time being honest with those of us to whom they come for assistance. However, ... the fact that Dalrymple works in the penal system ... is probably what stops him from being more compassionate toward these unfortunate individuals who have so little in the way of coping mechanisms... .

Both psychiatrists correctly point out that narcotic withdrawal generally won't kill you, but alcohol or sedative withdrawal may. However, to contradict Dr. Dalrymple (I love how that sounds), I am certain there are a number of lab animals which would clearly demonstrate withdrawal symptoms, whether or not in the presence of a nice scientist with a syringe full of relief.========Clink: He's got your (support) goat!

Often, medications for pain are made from opoid plants. These purple-flowered plants produce opium poppies, which are used in the production of the analgesic, opium. Opium is what we in the U.S. call narcotics, and they dull and numb one who ingests what may be made by these opium poppies, as there are several drugs that have been developed from what these plants provide that are these prevalent narcotics. Some medications are from natural opium, such as cocaine, or the opiates from the poppy seeds can be used to create semi-synthetic medications, such as Heroin. Heroin was marketed by Bayer Pharmaceuticals for 12 years, and during that time this company told others that heroin was a non-addicting form of morphine (pure opiate drug), since there were many soldiers addicted to morphine after the U.S Civil War. During that same period of time, Bayer marketed heroin for children who coughed. Of course, Heroin is very addictive, and is pointless creation is no longer available.While Poppy plants exist and are grown in areas of IndoChina, Afghanistan is the number one producer of poppy plants. The United States is the number one country that consumes what is derived from these plants. Opium-derived medicines once could be bought freely in the U.S. by anyone less than 100 years ago. Yet now, they are classified by the Drug Enforcement Agency as narcotics, and are scheduled by them, according to the danger they potentially could cause another who takes them. Internationally, the opium trade has been international, and brutal force by various nations has been implemented to control this powerful plant that is a catalyst for synthetic elation.While prescribed to patients for such issues aside from pain on occasion, such as chronic coughing and diarrhea, their greatest benefit is for the relief of pain experienced often by patients is the primary reason doctors prescribe opoid drugs, and they do so often. Vicodin, a mild narcotic, is the most frequently prescribed medication in the U.S. presently.If patients take opium-derived drugs for long periods of time, tolerance may develop, and the patient may need to take more of the drug to acquire an effect of relief. In addition, the patient may develop a dependence on these types of drugs, which can lead to addiction and possible abuse. This is why overdose of these types of medicine occur- as the reasons for taking these drugs initially become replaced with relief due to addiction in some who take narcotics for a long period of time.